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Background: After several neutral telehealth trials, the positive findings and subsequent Food and Drug Administration approval of an implantable pulmonary arterial pressure monitor (PAPM) led to renewed interest in remote patient monitoring (RPM). Here we seek to provide contemporary guidance on the appropriate use of RPM technology., Results: Although early trials of external RPM devices suggested benefit, subsequent multicenter trials failed to demonstrate improved outcomes. Monitoring features of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) also did not deliver improved HF outcomes, newer, multisensor algorithms may be better. Earlier technologies using direct pressure measurement via implanted devices failed to show benefit owing to complications or failure. Recently, 1 PAPM showed benefit in a randomized controlled trial. Although not showing cost reduction, cost-benefit analysis of that device suggests that it may meet acceptable standards. Additional research is warranted and is in progress. Consumer-owned electronic devices are becoming more pervasive and hold hope for future benefit in HF management. Practical aspects around RPM technology include targeting of risk populations, having mechanisms to ensure patient adherence to monitoring, and health care team structures that act on the data., Conclusions: Based on available evidence, routine use of external RPM devices is not recommended. Implanted devices that monitor pulmonary arterial pressure and/or other parameters may be beneficial in selected patients or when used in structured programs, but the value of these devices in routine care requires further study. Future research is also warranted to better understand the cost-effectiveness of these devices., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched Project Optimus to shift dose selection from the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) to the dose that produces the optimal risk-benefit tradeoff. One approach highlighted in the FDA's guidance involves conducting a randomized phase II trial following the completion of a phase I trial, where multiple doses (typically including the MTD and one or two doses lower than the MTD) are compared to identify the optimal dose that maximizes the benefit-risk tradeoff. This article focuses on the design of such a multiple-dose randomized trial, specifically the determination of the sample size. We generalized the standard definitions of type I error and power to accommodate the unique characteristics of dose optimization and derived a decision rule along with an algorithm to determine the optimal sample size. The resulting design is referred to as MERIT (Multiple-dosE RandomIzed Trial design for dose optimization based on toxicity and efficacy). Simulation studies demonstrate that MERIT has desirable operating characteristics, and a sample size between 20 and 40 per dosage arm often offers reasonable power and type I errors to ensure patient safety and benefit. To facilitate the implementation of the MERIT design, we provide software, available at https://www.trialdesign.org., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Abstract: In school, at least in the US, we were taught to multiply by hand according to a standard algorithm. Most people find that algorithm difficult to use, and many children fail to learn it. We propose a new way to make sense of this difficulty: to treat explicit computation as perceptually supported physical and mental action. Based on recent work in neuroscience, we trace the flow of arithmetic information to emphasize demands on visual working memory and attention. We predict that algorithms that make moderate demands on memory and attention will work better than others that make stronger demands. We suggest that the judicious use of spatial schemas can reduce such cognitive demands. Experimental evidence from children in an inner-city school supports this claim. Our work suggests new ways to think about instruction. The goal should be to minimize demands that present obstacles and maximize instead what human eyes, bodies, and brains do well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Adverse local tissue reactions (ALTRs) were initially reported as complications associated with metal-on-metal (MoM) bearings; however, there is increasing concern regarding the occurrence of adverse local tissue reactions from mechanically assisted crevice corrosion (MACC) at the femoral head-neck junction or between other modular junctions of the implant containing cobalt chromium parts in patients with metal-on-polyethylene (MoP) bearings. ALTR due to MACC at the head-neck junction has primarily been reported in association with cobalt chromium alloy femoral heads. As pain following total hip arthroplasty may have various intrinsic and extrinsic causes, a systematic approach to evaluation (risk stratification algorithm) based on the currently available data is recommended to optimize patient management. Evaluation should begin by ruling out common causes of pain, including component loosening and periprosthetic joint infection. While specialized tests such as blood metal analysis and metal artifact reduction sequence magnetic resonance imaging (MARS MRI) are useful modalities in evaluating for ALTRs, over-reliance on any single investigative tool in the clinical decision-making process should be avoided. There should be a low threshold to perform a systematic evaluation for ALTR due to MACC in patients with metal-on-polyethylene total hip arthroplasty as early recognition and diagnosis is critical, as delays in appropriate treatment initiation may result in soft-tissue damage, which complicates surgical treatment and is associated with a higher risk of complications and poorer patient outcomes., Competing Interests: Disclosure: The authors indicated that no external funding was received for any aspect of this work. On the Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest forms, which are provided with the online version of the article, one or more of the authors checked “yes” to indicate that the author had a relevant financial relationship in the biomedical arena outside the submitted work (http://links.lww.com/JBJS/G276)., (Copyright © 2021 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Incorporated.)

The obesity epidemic represents an important public health issue in the United States. Studying obesity trends across age groups over time helps to identify crucial relationships between the disease and medical treatment allowing for the development of effective prevention policies. We aim to define subgroups of age and cohort effects in obesity prevalence over time by considering an optimization approach applied to the age-period-cohort (APC) model. We consider a heterogeneous regression problem where the regression coefficients are age dependent and belong to subgroups with unknown grouping information. Using the APC model, we apply the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm to develop a two-step algorithm for (1) subgrouping of cohort effects based on similar characteristics and (2) subgrouping age effects over time. The proposed clustering approach is illustrated for the United States population, aged 18-79, during the period 1990-2017., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background. In April 2008, experts reviewed updates on sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention and treatment in preparation for the revision of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) STD Treatment Guidelines. This included a review of cervical cancer screening in the STD clinical setting. Methods. Key questions were identified with assistance from an expert panel. Reviews of the literature were conducted using the PubMed computerized database and shared with the panel. Updated information was incorporated in the 2010 CDC STD Treatment Guidelines. Results. We recommend that STD clinics offering cervical screening services screen and treat women according to guidelines by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Cancer Society, the US Preventive Services Task Force, and the American Society for Colposcopists and Cervical Pathologists. New to the 2010 guidelines are higher age for initiating cervical screening (age ≥21 years) and less frequent intervals of screening (at least every 3 years). New recommendations include new technologies, such as liquid-based cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA tests. Liquid-based technologies are not recommended over conventional testing. HPV DNA tests are recommended as adjunct tests and with new indications for use in cervical screening and management. Stronger recommendations were issued for STD clinics offering cervical screening services to have protocols in place for follow-up of test results and referral (eg, colposcopy). Conclusions. Important additions to the 2010 STD Treatment Guidelines include information on updated algorithms for screening and management of women and recommendations for use of liquid-based cytology and high-risk HPV testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Electronic Health Records (EHR) are a useful data source for research, but their usability is hindered by measurement errors. This study investigated an automatic error detection algorithm for adult height and weight measurements in EHR for the All of Us Research Program (All of Us)., Methods: We developed reference charts for adult heights and weights that were stratified on participant sex. Our analysis included 4,076,534 height and 5,207,328 wt measurements from ∼ 150,000 participants. Errors were identified using modified standard deviation scores, differences from their expected values, and significant changes between consecutive measurements. We evaluated our method with chart-reviewed heights (8,092) and weights (9,039) from 250 randomly selected participants and compared it with the current cleaning algorithm in All of Us., Results: The proposed algorithm classified 1.4 % of height and 1.5 % of weight errors in the full cohort. Sensitivity was 90.4 % (95 % CI: 79.0-96.8 %) for heights and 65.9 % (95 % CI: 56.9-74.1 %) for weights. Precision was 73.4 % (95 % CI: 60.9-83.7 %) for heights and 62.9 (95 % CI: 54.0-71.1 %) for weights. In comparison, the current cleaning algorithm has inferior performance in sensitivity (55.8 %) and precision (16.5 %) for height errors while having higher precision (94.0 %) and lower sensitivity (61.9 %) for weight errors., Discussion: Our proposed algorithm outperformed in detecting height errors compared to weights. It can serve as a valuable addition to the current All of Us cleaning algorithm for identifying erroneous height values., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The concept of race is prevalent in medical, nursing, and public health literature. Clinicians often incorporate race into diagnostics, prognostic tools, and treatment guidelines. An example is the recently heavily debated use of race and ethnicity in the Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) calculator. In this case, the critics argued that the use of race in this calculator implied that race confers immutable characteristics that affect the ability of women to give birth vaginally after a c-section. This debate is co-occurring as research continues to highlight the racial disparities in health outcomes, such as high maternal mortality among Black women compared to other racial groups in the United States. As the healthcare system contemplates the necessity of utilizing race-a social and political construct, to monitor health outcomes, it has sparked more questions about incorporating race into clinical algorithms, including pulmonary tests, kidney function tests, pharmacotherapies, and genetic testing. This paper critically examines the argument against the race-based Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) calculator, shedding light on its implications. Moreover, it delves into the detrimental effects of normalizing race as a biological variable, which hinders progress in improving health outcomes and equity., Competing Interests: The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Kimani.)

Purpose: Validated algorithms (VAs) in insurance claims databases are often used to estimate the prevalence and incidence of comorbidities and evaluate safety signals. However, although they are then used in different data sources or subpopulations from those in which they were developed the replicability of these VAs are rarely tested, making their application and performance in these settings potentially unknown. This paper describes testing multiple VAs used to identify incident breast cancer cases in a general population and in an indication-specific population, patients with atopic dermatitis (AD)., Methods: Two algorithms were tested in multiple insurance claims databases and four cohorts were created. Modifications were made to account for the US insurance setting. The resulting incidence rates (IRs) were then compared across algorithms and against surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) estimates to assess reliability., Results: Algorithm 1 produced low IRs compared to Algorithm 2. Algorithm 2 provided similar estimates to those of SEER. Individuals in the AD cohorts experienced lower incident breast cancer cases than those in the general population cohorts., Conclusion: Regardless of an algorithm's reported accuracy, the original study setting and targeted population for the VAs may matter when attempting to replicate the algorithm in an indication-specific subpopulation or varying data sources. Investigators should use caution and conduct sensitivity analyses or use multiple algorithms when attempting to calculate incidence or prevalence estimates using VAs., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Simple Summary: Breast cancer is a significant cause of female cancer-related deaths in the US. Checking how severe the cancer is helps in planning treatment. Modern AI methods are good at grading cancer, but they are not used much in hospitals yet. We developed and utilized ensemble deep learning algorithms for addressing the tasks of classifying (1) breast cancer subtype and (2) breast cancer invasiveness from whole slide image (WSI) histopathology slides. The ensemble models used were based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) known for extracting distinctive features crucial for accurate classification. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive analysis of these models and the used methodology for breast cancer diagnosis tasks. Cancer diagnosis and classification are pivotal for effective patient management and treatment planning. In this study, a comprehensive approach is presented utilizing ensemble deep learning techniques to analyze breast cancer histopathology images. Our datasets were based on two widely employed datasets from different centers for two different tasks: BACH and BreakHis. Within the BACH dataset, a proposed ensemble strategy was employed, incorporating VGG16 and ResNet50 architectures to achieve precise classification of breast cancer histopathology images. Introducing a novel image patching technique to preprocess a high-resolution image facilitated a focused analysis of localized regions of interest. The annotated BACH dataset encompassed 400 WSIs across four distinct classes: Normal, Benign, In Situ Carcinoma, and Invasive Carcinoma. In addition, the proposed ensemble was used on the BreakHis dataset, utilizing VGG16, ResNet34, and ResNet50 models to classify microscopic images into eight distinct categories (four benign and four malignant). For both datasets, a five-fold cross-validation approach was employed for rigorous training and testing. Preliminary experimental results indicated a patch classification accuracy of 95.31% (for the BACH dataset) and WSI image classification accuracy of 98.43% (BreakHis). This research significantly contributes to ongoing endeavors in harnessing artificial intelligence to advance breast cancer diagnosis, potentially fostering improved patient outcomes and alleviating healthcare burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The computer-assisted resuscitation algorithm (CARA) is the software component of an automatic infusion pump system being designed by US Army’s Walter Reed Institute of Research (WRAIR) to be used in the battlefields of tomorrow. Such medical devices are safety critical, and their use needs to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – a process on which formal methods can have a great impact. In this special section, six papers on the analysis of CARA’s requirements are presented. In the rest of this introduction, we present the framework and summary of results from those papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's export benefits from the significant fiscal stimulus in the United States. This paper analyzes the global spillover effect of the American economy on China's macro-economy using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)-Gibbs sampling approach, with the goal of improving the ability of China's financial system to protect against foreign threats. This paper examines the theories of the consequences of uncertainty on macroeconomics first. Then, using medium-sized economic and financial data, the uncertainty index of the American and Chinese economies is built. In order to complete the test and analysis of the dynamic relationship between American economic uncertainty and China's macro-economy, a Time Varying Parameter-Stochastic Volatility-Vector Autoregression (TVP- VAR) model with random volatility is constructed. The model is estimated using the Gibbs sampling method based on MCMC. For the empirical analysis, samples of China's and the United States' economic data from January 2001 to January 2022 were taken from the WIND database and the FRED database, respectively. The data reveal that there are typically fewer than 5 erroneous components in the most estimated parameters of the MCMC model, which suggests that the model's sampling results are good. China's pricing level reacted to the consequences of the unpredictability of the American economy by steadily declining, reaching its lowest point during the financial crisis in 2009, and then gradually diminishing. After 2012, the greatest probability density range of 68% is extremely wide and contains 0, indicating that the impact of economic uncertainty in the United States on China's pricing level is no longer significant. China should therefore focus on creating a community of destiny by working with nations that have economic cooperation to lower systemic financial risks and guarantee the stability of the capital market., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Jiamu Hu. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The article discusses a study on the use of SCIAMACHY WFM-DOAS XCO2 to determine errors related to reduction of scattering. The study develops a new version of the retrieval algorithm (WFMDv2.2) to enhance the quality of the SCIAMACHY XCO2 data product. It validates the new XCO2 data using ground-based observations from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON). It also compares NOAA's global CO2 modelling and assimilation system CarbonTracker.

In this paper, we consider the development of algorithms for the automatic detection of buried threats using ground penetrating radar (GPR) measurements. GPR is one of the most studied and successful modalities for automatic buried threat detection (BTD), and a large variety of BTD algorithms have been proposed for it. Despite this, large-scale comparisons of GPR-based BTD algorithms are rare in the literature. In this paper, we report the results of a multi-institutional effort to develop advanced BTD algorithms for a real-world GPR BTD system. The effort involved five institutions with substantial experience with the development of GPR-based BTD algorithms. In this paper, we report the technical details of the advanced algorithms submitted by each institution, representing their latest technical advances, and many state-of-the-art GPR-based BTD algorithms. We also report the results of evaluating the algorithms from each institution on the large experimental data set used for development. The experimental data set comprised 120 000 m2 of GPR data using surface area, from 13 different lanes across two U.S. test sites. The data were collected using a vehicle-mounted GPR system, the variants of which have supplied data for numerous publications. Using these results, we identify the most successful and common processing strategies among the submitted algorithms, and make recommendations for GPR-based BTD algorithm design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative genomics is the comparison of genetic information within and across organisms to understand the evolution, structure, and function of genes, proteins, and non-coding regions (Sivashankari and Shanmughavel, Bioinformation 1:376-8, 2007). Advances in sequencing technology and assembly algorithms have resulted in the ability to sequence large genomes and provided a wealth of data that are being used in comparative genomic analyses. Comparative analysis can be leveraged to systematically explore and evaluate the biological relationships and evolution between species, aid in understanding the structure and function of genes, and gain a better understanding of disease and potential drug targets. As our knowledge of genetics expands, comparative genomics can help identify emerging model organisms among a broader span of the tree of life, positively impacting human health. This impact includes, but is not limited to, zoonotic disease research, therapeutics development, microbiome research, xenotransplantation, oncology, and toxicology. Despite advancements in comparative genomics, new challenges have arisen around the quantity, quality assurance, annotation, and interoperability of genomic data and metadata. New tools and approaches are required to meet these challenges and fulfill the needs of researchers. This paper focuses on how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Comparative Genomics Resource (CGR) can address both the opportunities for comparative genomics to further impact human health and confront an increasingly complex set of challenges facing researchers., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Over the past decade, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have become increasingly prevalent in the medical field. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for regulating AI algorithms as "medical devices" to ensure patient safety. However, recent work has shown that the FDA approval process may be deficient. In this study, we evaluate the evidence supporting FDA-approved neuroalgorithms, the subset of machine learning algorithms with applications in the central nervous system (CNS), through a systematic review of the primary literature. Articles covering the 53 FDA-approved algorithms with applications in the CNS published in PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar and Scopus between database inception and January 25, 2022 were queried. Initial searches identified 1505 studies, of which 92 articles met the criteria for extraction and inclusion. Studies were identified for 26 of the 53 neuroalgorithms, of which 10 algorithms had only a single peer-reviewed publication. Performance metrics were available for 15 algorithms, external validation studies were available for 24 algorithms, and studies exploring the use of algorithms in clinical practice were available for 7 algorithms. Papers studying the clinical utility of these algorithms focused on three domains: workflow efficiency, cost savings, and clinical outcomes. Our analysis suggests that there is a meaningful gap between the FDA approval of machine learning algorithms and their clinical utilization. There appears to be room for process improvement by implementation of the following recommendations: the provision of compelling evidence that algorithms perform as intended, mandating minimum sample sizes, reporting of a predefined set of performance metrics for all algorithms and clinical application of algorithms prior to widespread use. This work will serve as a baseline for future research into the ideal regulatory framework for AI applications worldwide., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective:In order to save teachers' correcting time, improve the accuracy and efficiency of English composition grading.Methods: This paper briefly introduces the algorithm of deep sentence smoothness and text semantic matching based on graph neural network, and then designs an automatic scoring algorithm for English text. Result: The experimental data was collected from 12,000 essays written by international students in the United States in the Pratt & Whitney Foundation's Automated Student Value Assessment Project (ASAP), and these data were graded through a comparative experiment,Through comparative tests, the automatic scoring algorithm designed in this paper can achieve better scoring results and better handle automatic essay scoring problems. Among all the experimental mean values of evaluation methods, the experimental mean value of the algorithm designed in this paper is 0.790, the smoothness algorithm is 0.768, and the text matching vector is 0.759. The experimental mean values of the other two traditional automatic scoring algorithms are 0.710 and 0.712 respectively, and the results are lower than the algorithm designed in this paper. Conclusion: According to the experimental results, it can be concluded that good feature selection can give good scoring performance to the algorithm and cope with the problem of automatic scoring. At the same time, it also confirms the feasibility of the algorithm designed in this paper, which can be effectively applied in practical English composition scoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Primary care offers an ideal setting to reach adults who smoke cigarettes and improve uptake of evidence-based cessation treatment. Although U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Guidelines recommend the 5As model (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) in primary care, there are many barriers to its implementation. Automated, comprehensive, and proactive tools are needed to overcome barriers. Our team developed and preliminarily evaluated a proactive electronic visit (e-visit) delivered via the Electronic Health Record patient portal to facilitate evidence-based smoking cessation treatment uptake in primary care, with promising initial feasibility and efficacy. This paper describes the rationale, design, and protocol for an ongoing Hybrid Type I effectiveness-implementation trial that will simultaneously assess effectiveness of the e-visit intervention for smoking cessation as well as implementation potential across diverse primary care settings. Methods: The primary aim of this remote five-year study is to examine the effectiveness of the e-visit intervention vs. treatment as usual (TAU) for smoking cessation via a clinic-randomized clinical trial. Adults who smoke cigarettes are recruited across 18 primary care clinics. Clinics are stratified based on their number of primary care providers and randomized 2:1 to either e-visit or TAU. An initial baseline e-visit gathers information about patient smoking history and motivation to quit, and a clinical decision support algorithm determines the best evidence-based cessation treatment to prescribe. E-visit recommendations are evaluated by a patient's own provider, and a one-month follow-up e-visit assesses cessation progress. Main outcomes include: (1) cessation treatment utilization (medication, psychosocial cessation counseling), (2) reduction in cigarettes per day, and (3) biochemically verified 7-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) at six-months. We hypothesize that patients randomized to the e-visit condition will have better cessation outcomes (vs. TAU). A secondary aim evaluates e-visit implementation potential at patient, provider, and organizational levels using a mixed-methods approach. Implementation outcomes include acceptability, adoption, fidelity, implementation cost, penetration, and sustainability. Discussion: This asynchronous, proactive e-visit intervention could provide substantial benefits for patients, providers, and primary care practices and has potential to widely improve reach of evidence-based cessation treatment. Trial registration: NCT05493254. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policing in many parts of the world—the United States in particular—has embraced an archetypal model: a conception of the police based on the tenets of individuated archetypes, such as the heroic police "warrior" or "guardian." Such policing has in part motivated moves to (1) a reallocative model: reallocating societal resources such that the police are no longer needed in society (defunding and abolishing) because reform strategies cannot fix the way societal problems become manifest in (archetypal) policing; and (2) an algorithmic model: subsuming policing into technocratic judgements encoded in algorithms through strategies such as predictive policing (mitigating archetypal bias). This paper begins by considering the normative basis of the relationship between political community and policing. It then examines the justification of reallocative and algorithmic models in light of the relationship between political community and police. Given commitments to the depth and distribution of security—and proscriptions against dehumanizing strategies—the paper concludes that a nonideal-theory priority rule promoting respect for personhood (manifest in community and dignity-promoting policing strategies) is a necessary condition for the justification of the above models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the mathematical models used to analyze and simulate the U.S. kidney transplant system. It focuses on algorithms for matching donors to kidneys. It mentions that kidneys became available when a person dies and must be transplanted quickly. A proper scheme should be developed to find a compatible recipient for the kidney. The article also discusses using a bipartite graph to pair off living donors and recipients. It describes the problem of matching kidney donors and recipients as dynamic. It also analyzes the feasibility and effectiveness of the kidney paired donation model.

Blockchain technology has been changing the trust system through machine endorsement and mathematical algorithms, laying a technical foundation for network identity from centralized to decentralized management. The decentralized identity with core features, such as "no need for a management center and self-managed identities" have become a key direction for the evolution of a new generation of digital identity based on blockchain. Internationally, the United States, the EU, and other countries have promoted the technological exploration and application innovation of the decentralized identity, aiming to seize the international discourse power in the digital space. This paper establishes an evaluation model of international engagement in the decentralized identity field and takes the United States as a case to analyze the current development status and international engagement of the decentralized identity from multiple dimensions. Furthermore, it proposes some suggestions for other countries to improve the international engagement in the decentralized identity field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary care physicians (PCPs) play an indispensable role in providing comprehensive care and referring patients for specialty care and other medical services. As the COVID-19 outbreak disrupts patient access to care, understanding the quality of primary care is critical at this unprecedented moment to support patients with complex medical needs in the primary care setting and inform policymakers to redesign our primary care system. The traditional way of collecting information from patient surveys is time-consuming and costly, and novel data collection and analysis methods are needed. In this review paper, we describe the existing algorithms and metrics that use the real-world data to qualify and quantify primary care, including the identification of an individual's likely PCP (identification of plurality provider and major provider), assessment of process quality (for example, appropriate-care-model composite measures), and continuity and regularity of care index (including the interval index, variance index and relative variance index), and highlight the strength and limitation of real world data from electronic health records (EHRs) and claims data in determining the quality of PCP care. The EHR audits facilitate assessing the quality of the workflow process and clinical appropriateness of primary care practices. With extensive and diverse records, administrative claims data can provide reliable information as it assesses primary care quality through coded information from different providers or networks. The use of EHRs and administrative claims data may be a cost-effective analytic strategy for evaluating the quality of primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantification of cross-regional interactions for the atmospheric transport processes is of crucial importance to improve the predictive capacity of climatic and environmental system modeling. The dynamic interactions in these complex systems are often nonlinear and non-separable, making conventional approaches of causal inference, such as statistical correlation or Granger causality, infeasible or ineffective. In this study, we applied an advanced approach, based on the convergent cross mapping algorithm, to detect and quantify the causal influence among different climate regions in the contiguous U.S. in response to temperature perturbations using the long-term (1901-2018) climatology of near surface air temperature record. Our results show that the directed causal network constructed by convergent cross mapping algorithm, enables us to distinguish the causal links from spurious ones rendered by statistical correlation. We also find that the Ohio Valley region, as an atmospheric convergent zone, acts as the regional gateway and mediator to the long-term thermal environments in the U.S. In addition, the temporal evolution of dynamic causality of temperature exhibits superposition of periodicities at various time scales, highlighting the impact of prominent low frequency climate variabilities such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The proposed method in this work will help to promote novel system-based and data-driven framework in studying the integrated environmental system dynamics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

One of the most effective approaches to improve resource usage efficiency and degree of resource collecting is to integrate resources. Many studies on the integration of information resources are also available. The search engines are the most well-known. At the same time, this article intends to optimize the integration of British and American literature information resources by employing distributed cloud computing, based on the needs of British and American literature. This research develops a model for the dispersed nature of cloud computing. It optimizes the method by fitting the mathematical model of transmission cost and latency. This article analyzes the weaknesses of the current British and American literature information resource integration and optimizes them for the integration of British and American literature resources. The Random algorithm has the longest delay, according to the results of this paper's experiments (maximum user weighted distance). The algorithms NPA-PDP and BWF have longer delays than the algorithm Opt. The percentage decline varies between 0.17 percent and 1.11 percent for different algorithms. It demonstrates that the algorithm presented in this work can be used to integrate and maximize information resources from English and American literature., Competing Interests: The author does not have any possible conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Mei Chen.)

Shock advice algorithm plays a vital role in the detection of sudden cardiac arrests on electrocardiogram signals and hence, brings about survival improvement by delivering prompt defibrillation. The last decade has witnessed a surge of research efforts in racing for efficient shock advice algorithms, in this context. On one hand, it has been reported that the classification performance of traditional threshold-based methods has not complied with the American Heart Association recommendations. On the other hand, the rise of machine learning and deep learning-based counterparts is paving the new ways for the development of intelligent shock advice algorithms. In this paper, we firstly provide a comprehensive survey on the development of shock advice algorithms for rhythm analysis in automated external defibrillators. Shock advice algorithms are categorized into three groups based on the classification methods in which the detection performance is significantly improved by the use of machine learning and/or deep learning techniques instead of threshold-based approaches. Indeed, in threshold-based shock advice algorithms, a parameter is calculated as a threshold to distinguish shockable rhythms from non-shockable ones. In contrast, machine learning-based methods combine multiple parameters of conventional threshold-based approaches as a set of features to recognize sudden cardiac arrest. Noticeably, those features are possibly extracted from stand-alone ECGs, alternative signals using various decomposition techniques, or fully augmented ECG segments. Moreover, these signals can be also used directly as the input channels of deep learning-based shock advice algorithm designs. Then, we propose an advanced shock advice algorithm using a support vector machine classifier and a feature set extracted from a fully augmented ECG segment with its shockable and non-shockable signals. The relatively high detection performance of the proposed shock advice algorithm implies a potential application for the automated external defibrillator in the practical clinic environment. Finally, we outline several interesting yet challenging research problems for further investigation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Analyzing telemetry electrocardiogram (ECG) data over an extended period is often time-consuming because digital records are not widely available at hospitals. Investigating trends and patterns in the ECG data could lead to establishing predictors that would shorten response time to in-hospital cardiac arrest (I-HCA). This study was conducted to validate a novel method of digitizing paper ECG tracings from telemetry systems in order to facilitate the use of heart rate as a diagnostic feature prior to I-HCA. Methods: This multicenter study used telemetry to investigate full-disclosure ECG papers of 44 cardiovascular patients obtained within 1 hr of I-HCA with initial rhythms of pulseless electrical activity and asystole. Digital ECGs were available for seven of these patients. An algorithm to digitize the full-disclosure ECG papers was developed using the shortest path method. The heart rate was measured manually (averaging R-R intervals) for ECG papers and automatically for digitized and digital ECGs. Results: Significant correlations were found between manual and automated measurements of digitized ECGs (p < .001) and between digitized and digital ECGs (p < .001). Bland-Altman methods showed bias = .001 s, SD = .0276 s, lower and upper 95% limits of agreement for digitized and digital ECGs = .055 and -.053 s, and percentage error = 0.22%. Root mean square (rms), percentage rms difference, and signal to noise ratio values were in acceptable ranges. Conclusion: The digitization method was validated. Digitized ECG provides an efficient and accurate way of measuring heart rate over an extended period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western Arctic Linkage Experiment (WALE) is aimed at understanding the role of high-latitude terrestrial ecosystems in the response of the Arctic system to global change through collection and comparison of climate datasets and model results. In this paper, a spatiotemporal approach is taken to compare and validate model results from the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) with commonly used analysis and reanalysis datasets for monthly averages of temperature and precipitation in 1992–2000 and for a study area at 55°–65°N, 160°–110°W in northwestern Canada and Alaska. Objectives include a quantitative assessment of similarity between datasets and climate model fields, and identification of geographic areas and seasons that are problematic in modeling, with potential causes that may aid in model improvement. These are achieved by application of algebraic similarity mapping, a simple yet effective method for synoptic analysis of many (here, 45) different spatial datasets, maps, and models. Results indicate a dependence of model–data similarity on seasonality, on climate variable, and on geographic location. In summary, 1) similarity of data and models is better for temperature than for precipitation; and 2) modeling of summer precipitation fields, and to a lesser extent, temperature fields, appears more problematic than that of winter fields. The geographic distribution of areas with best and worst agreement shifts throughout the year, with generally better agreement between maps and models in the northeastern and northern inland areas than in topographically complex and near-coastal areas. The study contributes to an understanding of the geographic complexity of the Arctic system and modeling its diverse climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes one aspect of our approach in developing an intelligent off-road autonomous vehicle, the Intelligent Off-Road Navigator (ION), as Team Desert Buckeyes from the Ohio State University for the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005. The real-time navigation is one of the critical components in an autonomous ground vehicle system. In this paper, we focus on the navigation module, whose main responsibility is to generate smooth and obstacle-free local paths with appropriate speed setpoints. For the smooth path generation, we introduce a polynomial interpolation method. To generate obstacle-free paths, a steering controller utilizing a fuzzy obstacle avoidance algorithm is presented. A speed fuzzy controller is introduced to generate the speed setpoints. These two fuzzy controllers collaborate with each other to guide our vehicle ION to the goal safely. The obstacle avoidance algorithm proposed in this paper was also tested in simulations and on small robots successfully. Other issues related to the navigation module are discussed in the paper as well, such as the vehicle's system structure and its finite state machine. As a result, ION achieved great performance in the National Qualification Event, covered about 30 miles in the Nevada Desert with complete autonomous operations, and finished 10th in the Grand Challenge 2005. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a mathematical framework for determining second surge behavior of COVID-19 cases in the United States. Within this framework, a flexible algorithmic approach selects a set of turning points for each state, computes distances between them, and determines whether each state is in (or over) a first or second surge. Then, appropriate distances between normalized time series are used to further analyze the relationships between case trajectories on a month-by-month basis. Our algorithm shows that 31 states are experiencing second surges, while four of the 10 largest states are still in their first surge, with case counts that have never decreased. This analysis can aid in highlighting the most and least successful state responses to COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019 the total accumulated digital data reached 4.4 trillion gigabytes; Facebook alone produced 4 million gigabytes, which includes 350 million photos and 100 million hours of video watch time, 65 billion messages via WhatsApp, and 95 million photos or videos on Instagram.1 With the vast volumes of data accessible to users, the necessity for filtering agents, which separate relevant data from noise, becomes clear for both the user and the businesses aiming to target specific audiences. The lack of regulation and misalignment of values between businesses and users, however, has led to poor design and implementation of filtering agents, which have been shown to be able to manipulate, extremize, and restrict users, even in situations and contexts beyond access to information and media. This paper aims to map the current state of interaction and dynamics between stakeholder groups and the consequences that arise from the current state and its perpetuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study demonstrates the application of an unsupervised topic modeling algorithm to 7,773 English-language articles published in the Library Quarterly from 1931 to 2015. The analysis of 85 years of the journal's output follows an exploratory data analysis framework to generate novel hypotheses about the history of LIS using topic modeling, a method for identifying clusters of co-occurring words within large collections of text. The paper closely examines two topics that suggest differences in gender representation in the journal to propose and support a new hypothesis regarding the historical inclusion of gendered objects of study in LIS literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colon and rectal cancers are the most common kinds of cancer globally. Colon cancer is more prevalent in men than in women. Early detection increases the likelihood of survival, and treatment significantly increases the likelihood of eradicating the disease. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) programme is an excellent source of domestic cancer statistics. SEER includes nearly 30% of the United States population, covering various races and geographic locations. The data are made public via the SEER website when a SEER limited-use data agreement form is submitted and approved. We investigate data from the SEER programme, specifically colon cancer statistics, in this study. Our objective is to create reliable colon cancer survival and conditional survival prediction algorithms. In this study, we have presented an overview of cancer diagnosis methods and the treatments used to cure cancer. This paper presents an analysis of prediction performance of multiple deep learning approaches. The performance of multiple deep learning models is thoroughly examined to discover which algorithm surpasses the others, followed by an investigation of the network's prediction accuracy. The simulation outcomes indicate that automated prediction models can predict colon cancer patient survival. Deep autoencoders displayed the best performance outcomes attaining 97% accuracy and 95% area under curve-receiver operating characteristic (AUC-ROC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the summer of 2018, the upward-pointing Wyoming Cloud Lidar (WCL) was deployed on board the University of Wyoming King Air (UWKA) research aircraft for the Biomass Burning Flux Measurements of Trace Gases and Aerosols (BB-FLUX) field campaign. This paper describes the generation of calibrated attenuated backscatter coefficients and aerosol extinction coefficients from the WCL measurements. The retrieved aerosol extinction coefficients at the flight level strongly correlate (correlation coefficient, rr > 0.8) with in situ aerosol concentration and carbon monoxide (CO) concentration, providing a first-order estimate for converting WCL extinction coefficients into vertically resolved CO and aerosol concentration within wildfire smoke plumes. The integrated CO column concentrations from the WCL data in nonextinguished profiles also correlate (rr = 0.7) with column measurements by the University of Colorado Airborne Solar Occultation Flux instrument, indicating the validity of WCL-derived extinction coefficients. During BB-FLUX, the UWKA sampled smoke plumes from more than 20 wildfires during 35 flights over the western United States. Seventy percent of flight time was spent below 3 km above ground level (AGL) altitude, although the UWKA ascended up to 6 km AGL to sample the top of some deep smoke plumes. The upward-pointing WCL observed a nearly equal amount of thin and dense smoke below 2 km and above 5 km due to the flight purpose of targeted fresh fire smoke. Between 2 and 5 km, where most of the wildfire smoke resided, the WCL observed slightly more thin smoke than dense smoke due to smoke spreading. Extinction coefficients in dense smoke were 2–10 times stronger, and dense smoke tended to have larger depolarization ratio, associated with irregular aerosol particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 global pandemic has significantly impacted every aspect of life all over the world. The United States is reported to have suffered more than 20% of the global casualties from this pandemic. It is imperative to investigate the growth dynamics of the disease in the US based on varying geographical and governmental factors that best manifest itself in each State of the Country. This paper utilizes a hybrid machine learning and continuum deformation-based approach for analyzing the stability and growth rate of the pandemic. To this end, principal stress values of the pandemic continuum body are obtained using Mohr's Circle method and overlapping, moving windows of data are analysed successively. This helps in finding the correlations between the growth rate and Governments' action/Public's reaction. Government actions include "state of emergency", "shelter at place", and "phase declarations". We also consider the vaccination rate milestones, which shows us the coordinated Governments' action/Public's reaction. Finally, a number of recommendations are made to the Governments and people for better management of future pandemics., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objectives.To evaluate the positive predictive value of machine learning algorithms for early assessment of adverse birth risk among pregnant women as a means of improving the allocation of social services. Methods. We used administrative data for 6457 women collected by the Illinois Department of Human Services from July 2014 to May 2015 to develop a machine learning model for adverse birth prediction and improve upon the existing paper-based risk assessment. We compared different models and determined the strongest predictors of adverse birth outcomes using positive predictive value as the metric for selection. Results. Machine learning algorithms performed similarly, outperforming the current paper-based risk assessment by up to 36%; a refined paper-based assessment outperformed the current assessment by up to 22%. We estimate that these improvements will allow 100 to 170 additional high-risk pregnant women screened for program eligibility each year to receive services that would have otherwise been unobtainable. Conclusions. Our analysis exhibits the potential for machine learning to move government agencies toward a more data-informed approach to evaluating risk and providing social services. Overall, such efforts will improve the efficiency of allocating resource-intensive interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithmic vision, the computational process of making meaning from digital images or visual information, has changed the relationship between the image and the human subject. In this paper, I explicate on the role of algorithmic vision as a technique of algorithmic governance, the organization of a population by algorithmic means. With its roots in the United States post-war cybernetic sciences, the ontological status of the computational image undergoes a shift, giving way to the hegemonic use of automated facial recognition technologies towards predatory policing and profiling practices. By way of example, I argue that algorithmic vision reconfigures the philosophical links between vision, image, and truth, paradigmatically changing the way a human subject is represented through imagistic data. With algorithmic vision, the relationship between subject and representation challenges the humanistic discourse around images, calling for a critical displacement of the human subject from the center of an analysis of how computational images make meaning. I will explore the relationship between the operative image, the image that acts but is not seen by human eyes, and what Louise Amoore calls an "emergent subject," a subject that is made visible through algorithmic techniques (2013). Algorithmic vision reveals subjects to power in a mode that requires a new approach towards analyzing the entanglement and invisiblization of the human in automated decision-making systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the relationship among measures of resource and service usage and other features of academic libraries in the USA and Canada. Design/methodology/approach – Through the use of a self-organizing map, academic library data were clustered and visualized. Analysis of the library data was conducted through the computation of a "library performance metric" that was applied to the resulting map. Findings – Two areas of high-performing academic libraries emerged on the map. One area included libraries with large numbers of resources, while another area included libraries that had low resources but gave greater numbers of presentations to groups, offered greater numbers of public service hours, and had greater numbers of staffed service points. Research limitations/implications – The metrics chosen as a measure of library performance offer only a partial picture of how libraries are being used. Future research might involve the use of a self-organizing map to cluster library data within certain parameters and the identification of high-performing libraries within these clusters. Practical implications – This study suggests that libraries can improve their performance not only by acquiring greater resources but also by putting greater emphasis on the services that they provide to their users. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates how a self-organizing map can be used in the analysis of large data sets to facilitate library comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Parents play an important role in their children's oral health behaviors, provide oral health access, initiate prevention, and coping strategies for health care. Aim: This paper develops a short form (SF) to assist parents to evaluate their children's oral health status using Patient‐Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) framework that conceptualized health as physical, mental, and social components. Design: Surveys of parents were conducted at dental clinics in Los Angeles County, together with an on‐site clinical examination by dentists to determine clinical outcomes, Children's Oral Health Status Index (COHSI), and referral recommendations (RRs). Graded response models in item response theory were used to create the SF. A toolkit including SF, demographic information, and algorithms was developed to predict the COHSI and RRs. Results: The final SF questionnaire consists of eight items. The square root mean squared error for the prediction of COHSI is 7.6. The sensitivity and specificity of using SF to predict immediate treatment needs (binary RRs) are 85% and 31%. Conclusions: The parent SF is an additional component of the oral health evaluation toolkit that can be used for oral health screening, surveillance program, policy planning, and research of school‐aged children and adolescents from guardian perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides (DMP) labor search model generates low volatility in labor market variables relative to average labor productivity, the so-called Shimer puzzle. Hagedorn and Manovskii (Am Econ Rev 98(4):1692-1706, 2008) demonstrate that recalibrating the standard DMP model to be consistent with the small vacancy posting cost and wage elasticity observed in the data can resolve the Shimer puzzle. They close by stating that their calibration strategy would also resolve the Shimer puzzle in the real business cycle (RBC) search framework. In this paper, we examine their claim and find that their strategy resolves the Shimer puzzle in the RBC search model for linear preferences (with risk neutrality and infinite Frisch elasticity of labor supply), but falls significantly short for more standard assumptions on the degree of relative risk aversion (of 1-2) and Frisch elasticity (of 2-3), in line with empirical estimates. While our conclusions are based on highly accurate solutions using the Generalized Stochastic Simulation Algorithm, we also assess the accuracy of a frequently used linearization method and its implications for the assessment of labor market volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of the epidemiology curve for the COVID-19 pandemic can be a very computationally challenging task. Thus far, there have been some implementations of artificial intelligence (AI) methods applied to develop epidemiology curve for a specific country. However, most applied AI methods generated models that are almost impossible to translate into a mathematical equation. In this paper, the AI method called genetic programming (GP) algorithm is utilized to develop a symbolic expression (mathematical equation) which can be used for the estimation of the epidemiology curve for the entire U.S. with high accuracy. The GP algorithm is utilized on the publicly available dataset that contains the number of confirmed, deceased and recovered patients for each U.S. state to obtain the symbolic expression for the estimation of the number of the aforementioned patient groups. The dataset consists of the latitude and longitude of the central location for each state and the number of patients in each of the goal groups for each day in the period of 22nd January 2020-3rd December 2020. The obtained symbolic expressions for each state are summed up to obtain symbolic expressions for estimation of each of the patient groups (confirmed, deceased and recovered). These symbolic expressions are combined to obtain the symbolic expression for the estimation of the epidemiology curve for the entire U.S. The obtained symbolic expressions for the estimation of the number of confirmed, deceased and recovered patients for each state achieved R2 score in the ranges 0.9406-0.9992, 0.9404-0.9998 and 0.9797-0.99955, respectively. These equations are summed up to formulate symbolic expressions for the estimation of the number of confirmed, deceased and recovered patients for the entire U.S. with achieved R2 score of 0.9992, 0.9997 and 0.9996, respectively. Using these symbolic expressions, the equation for the estimation of the epidemiology curve for the entire U.S. is formulated which achieved R2 score of 0.9933. Investigation showed that GP algorithm can produce symbolic expressions for the estimation of the number of confirmed, recovered and deceased patients as well as the epidemiology curve not only for the states but for the entire U.S. with very high accuracy.

Presents reflections on the Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC) conferences in the United States. Memories of how it all started; Relationship between formal modeling and the algorithmic research that forms the core of PODC; Old distributed computing problems will require new solutions for new settings.

Political redistricting is the redrawing of electoral district boundaries. It is normally undertaken to reflect population changes. The process can be abused, in what is called gerrymandering, to favor one party or interest group over another, resulting thereby in broadly undemocratic outcomes that misrepresent the views of the voters. Gerrymandering is especially vexing in the United States. This paper introduces an algorithm, with an implementation, for creating districting plans (whether for political redistricting or for other districting applications). The algorithm, Seed-Fill-Shift-Repair (SFSR), is demonstrated for Congressional redistricting in American states. SFSR is able to create thousands of valid redistricting plans, which may then be used as points of departure for public deliberation regarding how best to redistrict a given polity. The main objectives of this paper are: (i) to present SFSR in a broadly accessible form, including code that implements it and test data, so that it may be used for both civic deliberations by the public and for research purposes. (ii) to make the case for what SFSR essays to do, which is to approach redistricting, and districting generally, from a constraint satisfaction perspective and from the perspective of producing a plurality of feasible solutions that may then serve in subsequent deliberations. To further these goals, we make the code publicly available. The paper presents, for illustration purposes, a corpus of 11,206 valid redistricting plans for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (produced by SFSR), using the 2017 American Community Survey, along with descriptive statistics. Also, the paper presents 1,000 plans for each of the states of Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, using the 2018 American Community Survey, along with descriptive statistics on these plans and the computations involved in their creation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) is responsible for leading the nation's efforts to provide health care, medications, and support services to low-income people living with HIV through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP). The RWHAP funds and coordinates with cities, states, and local community-based organizations to deliver efficient and effective HIV care, treatment, and support services for over half a million vulnerable people living with HIV (PLWH) and their families in the United States. The annual RWHAP Services Report (RSR) is an important source of information for monitoring RWHAP's progress towards National HIV/AIDS Strategy goals. Since 2010, HRSA HAB has used the annual client-level RSR data to monitor program-related outcomes, conduct program evaluations, understand service provision, and conduct extensive analysis on disparities in viral suppression and retention in HIV care. HRSA HAB receives annual RSR submissions from RWHAP recipients and sub-recipients. However, the de-identified nature of the data limits HRSA HAB's ability to expand beyond year-to-year analyses and conduct additional analyses to evaluate outcomes for clients who are seen in multiple years. The current paper describes the development and validation of a method to link RSR client-level records across multiple data years., Methods and Findings: Using seven RSR reporting years of data (2010 to 2016), we applied a Fellegi-Sunter (F-S) linkage model that used client demographic characteristics and their providers' geographic locations to calculate matching weights for each record pair based on estimated agreement and disagreement conditional probabilities across RSR years. To validate our methodology, we conducted an internal sample review and external validation to assess the level of accuracy of the linkage, and the extent to which the linked data set corresponds accurately to clinical records of individual clients. The linkage result yielded 70 to 80 percent year-to-year client carry-over rate over seven years of the RSR data; 96 percent linkage ratio from the internal sample review and 79.9 to 94.2 percent of provider network client carry- over rate per year from the external validation., Conclusions: This methodology addresses a gap in data analysis capabilities by allowing HRSA HAB to link RWHAP clients across reporting years. Despite weak identifying information and lack of continuity of service reporting, the longitudinal linkage improves HRSA HAB's ability to evaluate the patterns of viral suppression and monitor service utilization over time for individuals who receive services in multiple years. These analyses will support future analytic activities in understanding the impact and outcomes of the RWHAP, and will assist HRSA HAB in monitoring progress toward meeting National HIV/AIDS Strategy goals. For those looking for ways to assess health services data, the F-S unsupervised method combining weak identifying attributes and geographic proximity offers practical solutions to the problem of linking de-identified information about individuals across multiple years and improving longitudinal research., Competing Interests: Co-authors KM, SL and SH are employed by Westat and LS is a former employee of Accenture Federal Systems. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Dynamic resource allocation for prevention, screening, and treatment interventions in population disease management has received much attention in recent years due to excessive healthcare costs. In this paper, our goal is to design a model and an efficient algorithm to optimize sequential intervention policies under resource constraints to improve population health outcomes. We consider a discrete-time finite-horizon budget allocation problem with disease progression within a closed birth-cohort population. To address the computational challenges associated with large-state and multiple-period dynamic decision-making problems, we propose a low-fidelity approximation that preserves the population dynamics under a stationary policy. To improve the healthcare interventions in terms of population health outcomes, we then embed the low-fidelity approximation into a high-fidelity optimization model to efficiently identify a good non-stationary sequential intervention policy. Our approach is illustrated by a numerical example of screening and treatment policy implementation for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection over a budget planning period. We numerically compare our Multi-Fidelity Rollout Algorithm (MF-RA) to a grid search approach and demonstrate the similarity of sequential policy trends and closeness of overall health outcomes measured by quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and the total number of individuals that undergo screening and treatment for different annual budgets and birth-cohorts. We also show how our approach scales well to problems with high dimensionality due to many decision periods by studying time to elimination of HCV.

This paper details an approach for accurately machine sorting Library of Congress (LC) call numbers which improves considerably upon other methods reviewed. The authors have employed this sorting method in creating an open-source software tool for library stacks maintenance, possibly the first such application capable of sorting the full range of LC call numbers. The method has potential application to any software environment that stores and retrieves LC call number information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constraints arise naturally in many scientific experiments/studies such as in, epidemiology, biology, toxicology, etc. and often researchers ignore such information when analyzing their data and use standard methods such as the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Such methods may not only result in a loss of power and efficiency in costs of experimentation but also may result poor interpretation of the data. In this paper we discuss constrained statistical inference in the context of linear mixed effects models that arise naturally in many applications, such as in repeated measurements designs, familial studies and others. We introduce a novel methodology that is broadly applicable for a variety of constraints on the parameters. Since in many applications sample sizes are small and/or the data are not necessarily normally distributed and furthermore error variances need not be homoscedastic (i.e. heterogeneity in the data) we use an empirical best linear unbiased predictor (EBLUP) type residual based bootstrap methodology for deriving critical values of the proposed test. Our simulation studies suggest that the proposed procedure maintains the desired nominal Type I error while competing well with other tests in terms of power. We illustrate the proposed methodology by re-analyzing a clinical trial data on blood mercury level. The methodology introduced in this paper can be easily extended to other settings such as nonlinear and generalized regression models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the possibility of the implementation of Genetic Programming (GP) algorithm on a publicly available COVID-19 data set, in order to obtain mathematical models which could be used for estimation of confirmed, deceased, and recovered cases and the estimation of epidemiology curve for specific countries, with a high number of cases, such as China, Italy, Spain, and USA and as well as on the global scale. The conducted investigation shows that the best mathematical models produced for estimating confirmed and deceased cases achieved R2 scores of 0.999, while the models developed for estimation of recovered cases achieved the R2 score of 0.998. The equations generated for confirmed, deceased, and recovered cases were combined in order to estimate the epidemiology curve of specific countries and on the global scale. The estimated epidemiology curve for each country obtained from these equations is almost identical to the real data contained within the data set [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]